Ex-Lawyer Pleads No Contest In Case of Theft From Clients

A former federal prosecutor pleaded no contest today to first-degree larceny in the theft of $145,000 from two of his clients.

F. Mac Buckley is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Patrick Clifford on Nov. 8. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, although the prosecutor in the case, Herbert C. Carlson, did not say how much prison time he would recommend to the judge.

Mr. Buckley, a one-time boxing coach who often volunteered his time for poor children, would not comment as he left Hartford Superior Court with family members.

Mr. Buckley entered a written plea of nolo contendere, meaning he will not contest the charge. Judge Clifford then found him guilty.

Mr. Buckley, 58, has been under house arrest and has been receiving treatment for bipolar disorder since he returned in April 1999 from a still-unexplained seven-week disappearance. He vanished March 1, 1999, after leaving his Marlborough home for a client's sentencing in Federal District Court in New Haven.

Mr. Buckley's family initially was worried that he had been the victim of foul play. But the state police soon learned that some of his clients were missing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Mr. Buckley was spotted during the disappearance at a cemetery in upstate New York where his father is buried. He was also seen at a jewelry shop in Tennessee, where he used a credit card to buy a $1,500 bracelet.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

The larceny charge was related to the embezzlement of nearly $145,000 from David and Sharon Fracchia of Hebron.

An arrest warrant affidavit alleges that Mr. Buckley forged the couple's signatures on a check and converted the money for his own use.

Mr. Buckley represented the Fracchias in a wrongful-death lawsuit in the early 1990's after their daughter was killed by a drunken driver. The couple won more than $580,000 in the case, which they let Mr. Buckley invest and control.

A short time after his arrest, Mr. Buckley repaid the Fracchias more than $300,000, and they dropped a civil suit against him.

Mr. Buckley, however, faces several other lawsuits by former clients who accuse him of taking their money and performing little or no legal services in return.

Mr. Buckley resigned last year from the practice of law and promised never to reapply for admission to the Connecticut Bar Association.